Manufacturing Month 2024
Randy Wolken, President & CEO
It may still be August, but it’s never too early to remind you that October is Manufacturing Month!
Preparations are well underway to celebrate another exciting Manufacturing Month here in New York State. Throughout the month, we will offer events that engage students, teachers, business leaders, career coaches, and community members with events focused on the importance of manufacturing, including facility tours highlighting the promising careers in technology and manufacturing.
Two years before the nation started celebrating Manufacturing Day, we did. For over a decade, MACNY has led the charge to honor manufacturing careers with days committed to getting the young and old familiar with – and often into – our manufacturing members’ facilities. Once students, educators, community members, and elected officials see what manufacturers do, they can’t help but be amazed and supportive. Manufacturers bring vitality and growth as a part of this essential economic sector. However, we need your help to get this done!
Each year, MACNY and Partners for Education & Business, Inc. (PEB) focus on achieving three goals. We commit to creating excitement for careers in manufacturing and tech; improving necessary education and skills training; and fostering connections between educators, the workforce, and employers. MACNY and PEB believe that continued, focused awareness within the community and at our schools about manufacturing careers and other career pathways is critical to growing Upstate New York’s, and all of New York State’s, economic vitality.
One of the most effective ways to recruit and retain a skilled workforce is to engage students early. As you know, a career in manufacturing can result in a lifetime of success. High-paying, plentiful, engaging, and long-term careers are available in the tech and manufacturing sectors for those seeking them. We are pleased to be hosting students so they can learn about the many benefits that await them in a career in manufacturing. On October 3rd and 4th, manufacturers will host hundreds of students at over a dozen separate locations. We will also do so every Thursday of the month. This is an extension of what we do throughout the year at many member companies. We can uniquely bring together diverse groups of students, teachers, and community members to educate and provide awareness of the many benefits of a career path in manufacturing and tech.
But this is not all! Throughout Manufacturing Month, we will highlight numerous events that MACNY offers, and our members are offering, that showcase this amazing, creative, and meaningful sector. This is where we need your continued help! You can help sponsor our activities in your facility or provide resources to reach even more students, teachers, and community members.
I also want to take this opportunity to thank our member manufacturing companies who share in our collective vision and are taking part not only today but throughout the year in our efforts to engage students and the community. If your company is not yet actively engaged, now is the time to do so. You can join over 100 actively involved companies by volunteering time, talent, or resources. Please contact Taylor Hodge, Director of PEB, at [email protected] for more information on student/teacher efforts, or visit https://www.macny.org/peb/. In September, MACNY will publish a dedicated Manufacturing Month Calendar of Events. If you have Manufacturing Month events or activities you’d like to have featured on the calendar, contact Marisa Norcross at [email protected].
Without you and your dedicated employees, our mission and everyday efforts would not be possible. Thank you for helping us build tomorrow’s manufacturing workforce today. And for all you do to boost our economy. We owe you so very much!